Global online chat and news source for infusion nurses & all HCPs

Menu

Top News: #Leukemia

Here are the top read news for #Leukemia:

Side effects of leukaemia drug can be safely reduced by halving dose:

Under current guidelines, patients who achieve remission with TKI therapy are advised to continue taking the drugs indefinitely, yet it is unclear whether continued therapy is necessary for all patients. Common side effects include chronic headaches, stomach problems, and fatigue, and women are typically advised not to conceive children while taking the drugs due to the high risk of birth defects. Now, the results of a new study suggest that many CML patients may be able to safely reduce TKI side effects by cutting their dose in half: Read more

Pfizer Inc said on Monday its cancer drug, Bosulif, was found superior to Novartis AG’s Gleevec in a late-stage study on untreated patients with a form of blood and bone marrow cancer characterized by abnormal white blood cells production. Most people with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) have a genetic mutation, called the Philadelphia chromosome, which causes the bone marrow to make an enzyme that triggers the development of abnormal and unhealthy white blood cells. Gleevec is considered a standard-of-care therapy for these patients: Read more

High prices for some leukemia drugs will make them less cost-effective:

“Oral targeted therapies will increase survival rates substantially. However, with the current price structure, they will dramatically increase the cost of CLL management for both patients and payers,” the researchers warn in their study, which was published on Monday in The Journal of Clinical Oncology. “Such an economic impact could result in financial toxicity, limited access, and lower adherence to the oral therapies, which may undermine their clinical effectiveness. A more sustainable pricing strategy is needed,” for these medicines, the authors concluded: Read more

Biomarker may predict which formerly treated cancer patients will develop highly fatal form of leukemia:

“Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms occur in about 5 percent of cancer patients who were treated with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy,” said Andy Futreal, Ph.D., chair ad interim of Genomic Medicine. “In most cases, it is fatal, and currently there is no way to predict who is at risk or prevent it.” Being able to detect t-MNs earlier is crucial given that the disease usually occurs three to eight years following chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy: Read more

New cancer treatment strategy discovered for acute myeloid leukemia:

“We found an increased use of fructose in AML patients. This unique metabolic feature predicts poor treatment outcomes in patients. Our study provides strong evidence that blocking fructose utilization using a small molecule drug shows dramatic therapeutic benefit for AML treatment.”: Read more